


Hidden and Sought

by earthphoenix (roughknuckles)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Death Fix, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Muggle Life, Post - Deathly Hallows, Retirement, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-05
Updated: 2006-10-05
Packaged: 2018-01-18 06:49:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1418878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roughknuckles/pseuds/earthphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wizarding equivalent to the witness protection/relocation. Severus works in a muggle florist shop, it's something easy, something low-key after retiring from spying and war. He never expected to be found.</p>
<p>Post-Deathly Hallows/Battle for Hogwarts, with two character death fixes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden and Sought

The florist shop was a little place, wedged between an Irish Restaurant and Bar on one side, and a parking garage on the other. In the back, behind a wall of vases and sample floral arrangements was a workstation large enough for only the two men who were employed there. One was busying himself with floral arrangements, sending them off in time for weddings and funerals alike. The other man was sitting on a stool, a pile of dark red rose petals, clipped thorns, and dead leaves at his feet. With an eye for perfection, the man cleaned and cut the roses by the dozen, placing them in buckets which contained tea packets which helped to feed the roses. He did his work quietly, it was just what he had been craving, something mindless to focus upon.

The floral designer rolled up his purple sleeves as he worked on his most recent arrangement, the muggle radio playing little more then background noise to fill the silence that usually settled between them.  
  
The bell on the shop door rang softly and someone walked in quietly, waiting at the counter in a dark, long jacket. The tall, dark haired man's eyes were hidden by dark muggle sunglasses.  
  
The man who had been clipping rose thorns glanced to his employer, it was a small business, only the two of them. The designer was still busy with his arrangement, so he finished up the clipping on his last rose and walked down the length of the storage room and coolers, coming out of a pair of swinging doors that positioned him behind the register, "How may I help you?"

The pale, finely featured man smiled a little with closed, smooth lips as Severus approached. "Yes," the customer said quietly in what was an unmistakably a refined London accent nuanced with something else. "I'd like to order some flowers, please. Roses."  
  
The man reached over with his right hand and began to use the mouse of a computer to draw up the appropriate order form, while also making a note for himself by writing with his left hand, "And how may would you like?"

"I'd like twenty-four, please." Severus's hands were still as the customer remembered them, long and fine-boned, warmer than they looked.  
  
"All one color or mixed?"

"What is the traditional color of reunion?" It had been a long, long, difficult time but years only made Severus look more like himself and even the scar that rose out of the neck of his shirt would never be an imperfection.  
  
"Reunion for friend? Family?"

The customer's well-shaped lips spread in a momentary smile, "More than a friend."  
  
"Then I might suggest, a single red rose, surround by twenty-three white roses, or a single red rose, surrounded by five pink roses, and eighteen white roses. Does either appeal to you?" 

"I don't think he'd like pink very much, what would you choose?"  
  
"I enjoy balance, an even mix of white and red, or white and yellow. But really, it is your decision entirely." 

"An even mix of white and red, then."  
  
"Would you like any balloons or chocolates with that?" 

"I can take care of those some other time, just the flowers for now, thank you." Behind the glasses, the customer had to force himself to take moments and blink. It seemed impossible to be so close to him now.  
  
"There are note cards there." He indicated to a small display rack, before moving around the counter into the front of the store, opening a large cooler, hand selecting twelve white and twelve red roses, even now, after cleaning and cutting them all in the back, he was being picky about which he paired together; as he made each arrangement perfect, even if he was the only one who cared about such details. 

The dark-haired man took time to choose a card and began to write in a copperplate hand with a gold pen that he removed from his inside jacket pocket before he put the card in it's small envelope and wrote a name on the outside, taking care to center it well.  
  
Returning with am armful of flowers, the man walked behind the counter again and began to place small plastic vials on the end of each rose stem, filled with water and a little solution of plant food. He began to arrange them on tissue paper, taking care that white only touched red, and red only touched white, so that no colors were bunched up together. With it he added a few stems of limonium as barely noticeable accents. Folding the tissue paper tightly, he placed the finished product on the counter and rang the customer up. "Would you like to pay with cash or credit card?"

"Cash, I believe" the customer paid with a few large muggle bills, admiring the handiwork of the bouquet, "it's beautiful."  
  
The computer system rang up the processed order and printed out a receipt as Severus gave his customer change, "Enjoy. Have a good afternoon."

The stranger smiled and picked up the flowers, nestled the note in the dark green, symmetrical leaves, and seemed to hesitate before he stepped closer to the counter.  
  
"Was there something else I could help you with today?" 

"Yes, actually-" the stranger had to swallow before he went on, "I believe these are for you." He offered the flowers to Severus, the small white envelope labelled with his name.  
  
Glancing back at the door where his employer continued to work without comment, the man wondered for a moment if today was the florist version of secretaries day. He accepted the flowers he had just assembled, seeing his name written on a note card. He had not gone by that name in … he had not been that person for … so long. "You know my name." He commented softly.

Regulus nodded, removing his sunglasses slowly, folding them and storing them in the pocket of his soft, dark coat. He was in his thirties now, but hadn't changed as much as the years might suggest. "I do," he nodded, "but I wonder if you know mine ..."  
  
Severus looked to the man before him, sadly, happily, eternally lost in his soft eyes, _How could I not know_ , "Regulus."

It was thirty seconds later that the only remaining Black realized he had forgotten to nod, and smiled instead. "I'm ... I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to do this before today," his voice shook a little and he stepped closer, "you look well, are you well?"  
  
The bouquet dropped from Severus’s arms, onto the counter which he reached over, his hand going to the side of Regulus’s face quite suddenly, though hesitating at the last moment, as if fearful of breaking the illusion. "Regulus-" he whispered again, leaning over, still not touching, until he pressed his lips to the man who shouldn't exist. 

Regulus gasped softly and kissed Severus back solidly, leaning over the counter, both arms trying to wrap around him despite the divide. The Black felt his knees go a little weak and his head spin, with one kiss years melted away and it felt as though they'd never been separated.  
  
"Oh." It was real. Severus leaned his head against Regulus, his hands going to the other young man’s sides, the man he never stopped thinking about, despite how dangerous it might have been in the past, _you’re real, and you found me, you found me_. Severus kept telling himself this, which was fascinating, it was like the voice of a child, who had been playing hide and seek, but when he went to hide, everyone else just left. And because Severus would never quit, he had remained hiding, with no one looking.  
  
Regulus moved over the counter smoothly without parting their lips and his shaking hands went to Severus's chest, to the back of his neck. "Severus," he whispered.  
  
Severus wrapped his arms around Regulus, hugging him tightly, completely terrified of losing him. For all that he was feeling, he couldn’t say anything, just repeat his beloved name. "Regulus."

"I tried for so long but ..." Regulus kissed Severus again, laying him against the wall carefully and pressing as much of their bodies together as he could, needing the contact more than air, or light.  
  
 _This is my reward_. For a moment Severus imagined that he had died recently, that this whole scenario of him working in a florist was just a reality his brain had provided to continue to survive. But that he was dead, and in his afterlife, he was reunited with Regulus. "… found me, you found me … Regulus … oh." 

"Can ..." he looked towards the back of the shop, breathing deeply, "I need you alone."  
  
"Anything you want …" Severus pressed his fingers to his own mouth, unsure if he was breathing, then touched Regulus’s face again.

Regulus turned his head, kissing Severus's hand as he looked up. "My Severus ..." he murmured, closing his eyes and claiming his mouth again, his hands sliding under the front of Snape's shirt.  
  
Severus breathed in deeply, in an instant he understood, Regulus wanted Severus to be his, that anyone from the past were simply false masters, the memory of which Regulus would soon eradicate with touch. His back was firmly against the wall as he looked down at Regulus’s hand disappearing under his shirt, "Don’t stop-" he said, before Regulus had time to ask.

Regulus nodded, unbuttoning Severus's shirt quickly, coaxing the dark shirt off of Snape's shoulders, running his palms anywhere the fabric exposed, hungry for his skin. "Love, please-" He kissed Severus's neck, up the white column from his shoulder with devoted focus.  
  
"You found me."

"Found you, oh gods I found you ... missed you ..." Regulus shed his own coat and scarf, revealing a dark blue, crisp silk shirt under a soft charcoal grey vest.  
  
"I love you, Regulus." Severus said clearly, not touching him, keeping his hands against the wall, just behind the small of his back "… did you, ever know that? Did you ever believe I would, I _could_?"

Regulus made a soft, strangled sound in his throat, biting down on a sob that wanted out of his mouth, "Yes ... yes I knew, I hoped, I wanted ..." He looked at Severus, tilting his head up a little, "you're still so beautiful-" he murmured adoringly. To Regulus, Severus had always been an extraordinary beauty and no one, not even his infamous brother had been able to change the younger Black's mind.  
  
Severus fidgeted with the tips of his fingers behind his back a moment longer before wrapping his arms around Regulus again, "I used to pray to you-" the truth continued, even if it seemed absurd, "when you were, when I thought … you were … gone, I prayed to you, I prayed that maybe you knew my heart better then myself, that you could forgive me, that I could love you even though you were gone … that you would watch over me … I used to pray." 

Regulus stared, awestruck, before he ran his warm hands over Severus's chest and closed his eyes, murmuring as their lips brushed, "My darling," he kissed Severus softly, "darling, darling, darling, you woke with me, you ate with me, you slept with me-" another kiss, longer. "I cannot, would not unweave you from my life ..."  
  
Severus breathed out sharply, smiling in the small, private way he did, "Regulus" he closed his eyes slowly, touching Regulus without sight, smelling his skin, his hair, kissing him this way, "my sweet prince, I’ve missed you … I cannot even explain." The hurt was too much, "I don’t want to."

"Don't, then-" he kissed Severus again with a soft moan, clinging to him as he ran his elegant fingers up Snape's bare back, "please, touch me ..."

**Author's Note:**

> co-authored. originally written for thestralskinphoenixtears


End file.
